'No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until one comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.'
- Lin Yutang
See photo albums below:
Vancouver and Edmonton
Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach and L.A.
California Coast and San Francisco
Home was a seriously mixed bag of feelings. I gave myself 5 weeks to see everyone and get all my paperwork (work visa) in order before I was due back to NZ mid December ('08). I was really excited to see everyone but also had a dreaded feeling of going home. It guess it was the void of adventure that I wasn't so keen on but reveled in the comfort of arriving in a familiar airport, where you know the language and the best way to transport yourself from point A to B.
I stopped in Vancouver briefly to say hi to the kitties and pick up some winter clothes and went off to Edmonton the next day. Visiting friends and family in Alberta was of course really great. My mom had a table at the Festival of Trees in Camrose to sell all her knitting wares so I joined her to sell some of my prints from NY, Hawaii and SE Asia...we had 3 full days of catching up and mother daughter bonding, which made it a more than worthwhile endeavour.I stopped by the island (Victoria) to see old friends: Stacey and Aron as well as Kelli. It was an awesome visit (as always) before going back to Vancouver to meet up with Marj. She came up from San Francisco for a week of visiting with myself and her friend Mirena. We caught up on all the happenings of the last 4 months since we said goodbye in Bali and of course had heaps of fun, as per usual.
In January ('09), I received an invitation from The Depot Artspace in Auckland, NZ, inviting me to exhibit with 2 other female photographers during the Auckland Photo Festival in June. I didn't really have to think about what my answer would be so I emailed back with a resounding YES!
The next few weeks were spent in front of my laptop, continuing to market myself, preparing for the exhibition, looking for jobs and catching up on editing photos and various projects I had been working on until one night....I had the most horrible dream.
The bus driver had to shake me awake upon arrival at Seattle airport. I walked into the airport sproting an imprint of the texture of my camera bag on my cheek and wiping drool from my chin....classy!
I had some time to kill so I went and got lunch. Eating isn't what it used to be. My sensitivity to alcohol had seriously progressed to a point of not being able to eat anything that had even the smallest amount in it (or I could count on being ill for 4 to 10 days). I had to learn the hard way that some extracts, like vanilla, actually contained pure alcohol. Really bad news for someone who loves her cookies with coffee – no more, unless someone could tell me exactly what was in it. Booooooo!
I landed in Long Beach where my surf sister Marj was waiting for me! She pulled up and we headed off to her sister's. We had a really good dinner and visit with her sister Beth and her husband John. A very warm and welcoming couple, but I would expect nothing less from someone related to Marj.
Most of the next morning was spent catching up and hanging out. Dan had called so we headed in to L.A. to pick him up. He was in Pasadena couch surfing (www.couchsurfing.com). He hadn't changed a bit...besides his sun bleached hair from living in Perth, Australia the last few months. The three of us went to the Hollywood Walk of Fame and explored. I got faux stabbed by Jason from Friday the 13th and had a small heart attack. Later, we went bowling at Lucky Strike before calling it a night.Marj and I headed off to Laguna Beach the next day. I loved driving down there by the ocean through all the cute little surf towns. We walked around to different galleries and had a super chill afternoon. When the light got good, we cruised as fast as we could to beat the sunset at Huntington Beach. The next hour was spent photographing the pier, surfers and sea birds. A dreamy golden hour.
The next morning, we went back to L.A., picked up Dan and went on a tour of Warner Bros. Studio. We got to see the set of E.R., Cold Case, The Ghost Whisperer, Friends, Gilmore Girls etc. It was pretty cool, although I don't think I have seen even one episode of any of the aforementioned! We really wanted to see Ellen but she was taping during the golden hour. We did see where she parks her Porsche though. We didn't see any stars but figured they were all hiding behind bushes and buildings and too intimidated to approach US. Ha ha ha. Our tour guide thought the story of the 3 of us meeting in Bali would make a good movie. When we were on the ER Emergency Entrance set – Marj had Dan pick me up and pretend he was running me in. Afterward he said my bones were REALLY heavy. Hmmmm? Lol! Other Danisms:
We also had a lot of fun in the Friends room where all the paraphernalia from the set was. We got our picture taken in front of a green screen where Dan was pushing me and Marj was trying to stop him in front of the train from Harry Potter. So it went nicely with the photo of Dan carrying me into emergency after his attempt to kill me.
We headed to Venice Beach afterward to meet my friend Nell. She had recently moved back to California from Vancouver where she was a yoga instructor and back to her old job as a lifeguard while studying yoga therapy. We walked Venice Beach down to Santa Monica Pier where we did a lot of swinging (on swings!) and then to the pier. Nell took us to Mao's for dinner – a popular haunt with the locals. DAYUM it was good!
After we left, we were all shivering walking to the car. Dan said 'think warm thoughts' but I thought he said 'think warm farts'. We all laughed and thought it was a creative, albeit smelly, way for one to warm up!
We dropped Dan off and said our goodbyes. Oh where in the world will we see him next?
We drove into the college, coastal town of San Luis Obispo and checked into our hostel - $25 each a night? Yeeks! A far cry from Asia prices! We went to the farmer's market. It was SO All American. I felt like I was in a football movie. We went to an organic restaurant and had some really good eats before meeting Marj's friend at a little coffee shop where we chatted about all of our travels, dreams and future plans. Marj convinced us to continue the evening at a pub. It's a college town so I would imagine everyone in there was in there early to mid twenties...one is reminded of how old they really are when surrounded by a crowd that looks SO young! A guy from Mexico City came over and asked if we were from Germany? Hmmm. Perhaps Dan rubbed off on us a little?
The next morning we hit the road again, stopping in Cambria for coffee and loitering, San Simeon to see the elephant seals, the coastline to watch a storm linger above the Pacific and Monterey for a little taste of its charm.
We spent the next few days cruising around San Fran. I was sick from something that I ate that must have had some kind of something in it but I tried to ignore it as best as possible and enjoy it all.
'The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.'
- St. Augustine






























































































































































































































